There fruck the lance. Then rifing ere he threw, The forceful fpear of great Achilles flew, And pierc'd the Dardan's shield's extremeft bound, Where the fhrill brafs return'd a fharper found: Through the thin verge the Pelian weapon glides. And the flight covering of expanded hides. 326 Eneas his contracted body bends, And o'er him high the riven targe extends, Sees through its parting plates, the upper air, And at his back perceives the quivering fpear: 330 A fate fo near him chills his foul with fright; And fwims before his eyes the many-colour'd light. Achilles, rushing in with dreadful cries, Draws his broad blade, and at Æneas flies: Eneas, roufing as the foe came on (With force collected) heaves a mighty stone; A mass enormous! which in modern days No two of earth's degenerate fons could raise. But Ocean's God, whole earthquakes rock the ground,

335

341

345

Saw the diftrefs, and mov'd the Powers around.
Lo! on the brink of fate Æneas stands,
An instant victim to Achilles' hands;
By Phœbus urg'd; but Phoebus has bestow'd
His aid in vain the man o'erpowers the God.
And can ye fee this righteous chief atone,
With guiltlefs blood, for vices not his own?
To all the Gods his conftant vows were paid:
Sure, though he wars for Troy, he claims our aid!
Fate wills not this; nor thus can Jove refign
The future Father of the Dardan line:
The first great ancestor obtain'd his grace,
And still his love defcends on all the race;
For Priam now, and Priam's faithlefs kind,
At length are odious to th' all-feeing Mind;
On great Æneas fhall devolve the reign, 355
And fons fucceeding fons the lafting line fuftain.
The great Earth-fhaker thus: to whom replies
Th' imperial Goddess with the radiant eyes :
Good as he is, to immolate or spare

350

The king of Ocean to the fight defcends, Through all the whittling darts his course he bends, Swift interpos'd between the warriors flies, And cafts thick darkness o'er Achilles' eyes. 370 From great Æneas fhield the fpear he drew, And at his mafter's feet the weapon threw. That done, with force divine he fnatch'd on high The Dardan Prince, and bore him through the iky, Smooth-gliding without step, above the heads 375 Of warring heroes, aud of bounding feeds: Till at the battle's utmost verge they light, Where the flow Caucans clofe the rear of fight. The Godhead there (his heavenly form confefs'd) With words like thefe the panting chief addrefs'd: [380 What power, O prince, with force inferior far, Urg'd thee to meet Achilles' arm in war? Henceforth beware, nor antedate thy doom, Defrauding Fate of all thy fame to come. But when the day decreed (for come it muft) 385 Shall lay this dreadful hero in the duft,

399

Let then the furies of that arm be known,
Secure, no Grecian force tranfcends thy own
With that, he left him, wondering as he lay,
Then from Achilles chas'd the mift away:
Sudden, returning with the ftream of light,
The fcene of war came rufhing on his fight.
Then thus amaz'd: What wonders ftrike my
mind!

My fpear, that parted on the wings of wind,
Laid here before me! and the Dardan lord, 395
That fell this inftant, vanish'd from my fword.
I thought alone with mortals to contend,
But Powers celestial fure this foe defend.
Great as he is, our arm he fcarce will try,
Content, for once, with all his Gods, to fly. 400
Now then let others bleed-This faid, aloud
He vents his fury, and inflames the crowd,
O Greeks (he cries and every rank alarms)
Join battle, man to man, and arms to arms!
'Tis not in me, though favour'd by the Sky, 405
To mow whole troops, and make whole armies
No God can fingly fuch a host engage, [fty:
Not Mars himself, nor great Minerva's rage.
But whatfoe'er Achilles can infpire,
Whate'er of active force, or acting fire:
Whate'er this heart can prompt, or hand obey;
All, all Achilles, Greeks! is yours to-day.
Through yon wide hoft this arm fhall featter fear,
And thin the fquadrons with my single spear.
He faid nor lefs elate with martial joy, 415
The godlike Hector warm'd the troops of Troy :
Trojans to war! Think Hector leads you on;
Nor dreads the vaunts of Peleus' haughty fon.
Deeds muft decide our fate. Ev'n thofe with
words

410

[430

435

And brave that vengeful heart, that dreadful hand.
Thus (breathing rage thro' all) the hero faid;
A wood of lances rifes round his head,
Clamours on clamours tempett a the air,
They join, they throng, they thicken to the war.
But Phoebus warns him, from high heaven, to fhun
The fingle fight with Thetis' godlike fon';
More fafe to combat in the mingled band,
Nor tempt too near the terrors of his hand.
He hears obedient to the God of Light,
And, plung'd within the ranks, awaits the fight.
Then fierce Achilles, fhouting to the fkies,
On Troy's whole force with boundless fury flies,
Firf falls Iphityon, at his army's head;
Brave was the chief, and brave the hoft he led; 440
From great Otrynteus he deriv'd his blood,
His mother was a Naïs of the flood;
Beneath thehades of Tmolus, crown'd with snow,
From Hyde's walls he rul'd the lands below.
Fierce as he fprings, the sword his head divides; 445
The parted vifage falls on equal fides:
With loud-refounding arms he strikes the plain;
While thus Achilles glories o'er the flain:

Lie there, Otryntides! the Trojan earth Receives thee dead, tho' Gyga boast thy birth: 450

1

roll'd,

And plenteous Hermus fwells with tides of gold,
Are thire no more-Th' infulting hero faid,
And left him fleeping in eternal shade.
The rolling wheels of Greece the body tore, 455
And dafh'd their axles with no vulgar gore.

He foams with fury, and exclaims aloud:
Wretch thou haft 'fcap'd again, once more

thy flight

Demoleon next, Antenor'. offspring, laid Breathlefs in duft, the price of rafhnefs paid. Th' impatient fteel, with full defcending fway, Forc'd through his brazen helm its furious way, 460 Refiftless drove the batter'd skull before, And dafh'd and mingled all the brains with gore. This fees Hippodamas, and, seiz'd with fright, Deferts his chariot for a swifter flight: The lance arreft him: an ignoble wound The panting Trojan rivets to the ground. He groans away his foul: not louder roars, At Neptune's fhrine on Helicé's high fhores, The victim bull: the rocks rebellow round, And Ocean liftens to the grateful found.

470

475

485

Then fell on Polydore his vengeful rage, The youngest hope of Priam's ftooping age (Whofe feet for fwiftnefs in the race furpast): Of all his fons, the deareft and the last. To the forbidden field he takes his flight In the first folly of a youthful knight, To vaunt his swiftnefs wheels around the plain, But vaunts not long, with all his fwiftnefs flain. Struck where the croffing belts unite behind, And golden rings the double back-plate join'd: 480 Forth through the navel burst the thrilling fteel: And on his knees with piercing fhrieks he fell; The rushing entrails pour'd upon the ground His hands collect; and darkness wraps him round. When Hector view'd, all ghaftly in his gore, Thus fadly flain th' unhappy Polydore, A cloud of forrow overcaft his fight; His foul no longer brook'd the diftant fight: Full in Achilles' dreadful front he came, And fhook his javelin like a waving flame. The fon of Peleus fees, with joy poffeft, His heart high-bounding in his rifing breaft: And, lo! the man, on whom black fates attend; The man, that flew Achilles, in his friend! No more fhall Hector' and Pelides' spear Turn from each other in the walks of warThen with revengeful eyes he fcann'd him o'er: Come, and receive thy fate! He (pake no more. Hector, undaunted, thus: Such words employ To one that dreads thee, fome unwarlike boy: 500 Such we could give, defying and defy'd, Mean intercourfe of obloquy and pride! I know thy force to mine fuperior far; But Heaven alone confers fuccefs in war: Mean as I am, the Gods may guide my dart, 505 And give it entrance in a braver heart.

490

495

510

Then parts the lance: but Pallas's heavenly Far from Achilles wafts the winged death, [breath The bidden dart again to Hector flies, And at the feet of its great mafter lies. Achilles clofes with his hated foe, His heart and eyes with flaming fury glow: But, prefent to his aid, Apollo throuds The favour'd hero in a veil of clouds. Thrice ftruck Pelides with indignant heart, Thrice in impallive air he plung'd the dart:

515

|

530

535

The valiant fons of an unhappy fire;
Both in one inftant from the chariot hurl'd,
Sunk in one inftant to the nether world;
This difference only their fad fates afford,
That one the fpear destroy'd, and one the fword.
Nor lefs unpitied young Alastor bleeds;
In vain his youth, in vain his beauty, pleads:
In vain he begs thee with a fuppliant's moan,
To fpare a form, an age, fo like thy own!
Unhappy boy! no prayer, no moving art,
E'er bent that fierce, inexorable heart!
While yet he trembled at his knees, and cry'd,
The ruthless faulchion ope'd his tender fide;
The panting liver pours a flood of gore,
That drowns his bosom till he pants no more.

540

545

555

560

Thro' Mulius' head then drove th' impetuous The warrior falls, transfix'd from ear to ear. [fpear, Thy life, Echeclus! next the fword bereaves, Deep through the front the ponderous faulchion cleaves; 550 Warm'd in the brain the fmoking weapon lies, The purple death comes floating o'er his eyes. Then brave Deucalion dy'd: the dart was flung Where the knit nerves the pliant elbow ftrung; He dropt his arm, an unaffifting weight, And flood all impotent, expecting fate: Full on his neck the falling faulchion sped, From his broad fhoulders hew'd his crefted head: Forth from the bone the fpinal marrow flies, And funk in duft the corpfe extended lies. Rhigmus, whofe race from fruitful Thracia came, (The fon of Pireus, an illuftrious name) Succeeds to fate: the fpear his belly rends; Prone from his car the thundering chief defcends: The fquire, who law expiring on the ground 565 His proftrate mafter rein'd the fleeds around: His back fearce turn'd, the Pelian javelin gor'd, And stretch'd the fervant o'er the dying lord. As when a flame the winding valley fills, And runs on crackling fhrubs between the hills; Then o'er the ftubble up the mountain flies, Fires the high woods, and blazes to the skies, | This way and that the spreading torrent roars ; So fweeps the hero through the wafted fhores: Around him wide, immense destruction pours, 575 And earth is delug'd with the fanguine showers, As, with autumnal harvests cover'd o'er, And thick beftrown, lies Ceres' facred floor; When round and round with never-weary'd pain, The trampling fteers beat out th' unnumber'd 520

grain:

(570

AND now to

The river here divides the flying train,
Part to the town fly diverfe o'er the plain,
Where late their troops triumphant bore the fight:
Now chas'd, and trembling in ignoble flight
(Thefe with a gather'd mift Saturnia shrouds,
And rolls behind the rout a heap of clouds).
Part plunge into the ftream: old Xanthus roars,
The flashing billows beat the whiten'd fhores: 10
With cries promifcuous all the banks refound:"
And here, and there, in eddies whirling round,
The flouncing fleeds and shrieking warriors (
drown'd.

As the fcorch'd locufts from their fields retire,
While faft behind them runs the blaze of fire; 15
Dav'n from the land before the fmoky cloud,
The clustering legions rufh into the flood:
So, plung d in Xanthus, by Achilles' force,
Roars the refounding furge with men and horse.
His bloody lance the hero cafts afide
(Which fpreading tamarifks on the margin hide);
Then, like God, the rapid billows braves,
Arm'd with his fword high-brandish'd o'er the

waves:

20

Now down he plunges, now he whirls it round,
Deep groun'd the waters with the dying found; 25
Repeated wounds the reddening river dy'd,
And the warm purple circled on the tide.
Swift through the foamy flood the Trojans fly,
And clofe in rocks or winding caverns lie :
So, the huge Dolphin tempefting the main,
In thoals before him fly the fealy train,
Confus'aly neap'd they feek their inmost caves,
Or pant and heave beneath the floating waves.
Now, tir'd with flaughter, from the Trojan band
Twelve chofen youths he drags alive to land; 35

30

(Late their proud ornaments, but now their

chains).

Thefe his attendants to the fhips convey'd,
Sad victims! deftin'd to Patroclus' fhade.
Then, as once more he plung'd amid the flood, 40
The young Lycaon in his paffage stood,
The fon of Priam; whom the hero's hand
But late made captive in his father's land
(As from a fycamore, his founding fteel
Lopp'd the green arms to spoke a chariot wheel);45
To Lemnos' ile he fold the royal flave,
Where Jafon's fon the price demanded gave;
But kind Eetion touching on the shore,
The ranfom'd prince to fair Arifbe bore.
Ten days were paft, fince in his father's reign 50
He felt the fweets of liberty again;

55

The next, that God whom men in vain withstand,
Gives the fame youth to the fame conquering hand:
Now never to return! and doom'd to go
A fadder journey to the fhades below.
His well-known face when great Achilles ey'd'
(The helm and vifor he had caft afide
With wild affright, and dropp'd upon the field
His ufelets lance and unavailing shield)
As trembling, panting, from the ftream he fled, 60
And knock'd his faultering knees, the hero faid:

Ye mighty Gods! what wonders strike my view!
Is it in vain our conquering arms fubdue?
Sure I fhall fee yon heaps of Trojans kill'd,
Rife from the fhades, and brave me on the field: 65
As now the captive, whom fo late I bound
And fold to Lemnos, stalks on Trojan ground!
Not him the fea's unmeafur'd deeps detain,
That bar fuch numbers from their native plaiu:
Lo! he returns. Try, then, my flying spear! 70
Try, if the grave can hold the wanderer ;

As he that thunders, to the ftream that flows.
What rivers can, Scamander might have shown;
But Jove he dreads, nor wars against his fon,
Ev'n Achelous might contend in vain,
And all the roaring billows of the main.
Th' eternal ocean, from whofe fountains flow
The feas, the rivers, and the springs below,
The thundering voice of Jove abhors to hear, 215
And in his deep abyffes fhakes with fear.

225

He faid, then from the bank his javelin tore,
And left the breathlefs warrior in his gore.
The floating tides the bloody carcafe lave,
And beat against it, wave fucceeding wave; 220
Till, roil'd between the banks, it lies, the food
Of curling eels, and fishes of the flood. [flain)
All fcatter'd round the ftream (their mightiest
Th' amaz'd Pæonians fcour along the plain :
He vents his fury on the flying crew,
Thrafius, Aftypylus, and Mnefius flew ;
Mydon, Therfilochus, with Enius fell;
And numbers more his lance had plung'd to hell;
But from the bottom of his gulfs profound,
Scamander fpoke; the fhores return the found :230
O firft of mortals! (for the Gods are thine)
In valour matchlefs, and in force divine!
If Jove had given thee every Trojan head,
'Tis not on me thy rage should heap the dead.
See! my chok'd ftreams no more their courfe can
[keep, 235

Nor roll their wonted tribute to the deep.
Turn, then, impetuous! from our injur'd flood;
Content, thy flaughters could amaze a God.

Sliddering and ftaggering. On the border flood
A fpreading elm, that overhung the flood:
He feiz'd a bending bough, his fteps to stay;
The plant, uprooted, to his weight gave way, 270
Heaving the bank, and undermining all;
Loud flash the waters to the rufhing fall

280

Of the thick foliage. The large trunk display'd
Bridg'd the rough flood acrofs: the hero ftay'd
On this his weight, and, rais'd upon his hand, 275
Leap'd from the channel, and regain'd the land.
Then blacken'd the wild waves; the murmur rofe;
The God pursues, a huger billow throws,
And burfts the bank, ambitious to destroy
The man whose fury is the fate of Troy.
He, like the warlike eagle, fpeeds his pace
(Swifteft and strongest of th' aerial race)
Far as a fpear can fly; Achilles fprings
At every bound; his clanging armour rings:
Now here, now there, he turns on every fide, 285
And winds his courfe before the following tide;
The waves flow after, wherefoe'er he wheels,
And gather faft, and murmur at his heels.
So, when a peasant to his garden brings
Soft rills of water from the bubbling fprings, 290
And calls the floods from high, to blefs his bowers,
And feed with pregnant ftreams the plants and
flowers;

Soon as he clears whate'er their paffage staid,
And marks the future current with his fpade,
Swift o'er the rolling pebbles, down the hills, 295
Louder and louder purl the falling rills;
Before him scattering, they prevent his pains,
And shine in mazy wanderings o'er the plains.
Still flies Achilles, but before his eyes
Still swift Scamander rolls where'er he flies:
Not all his speed escapes the rapid floods;
The first of men, but not a match for Gods.
Oft as he turn'd the torrent to oppofe,

300

In human form confefs'd before his eyes, The river thus, and thus the chief replies: O facred ftream! thy word we fhall obey; But not till Troy the deftin'd vengeance pay: Not till within her towers the perjur'd train Shall pant, and tremble at our arms again: Not till proud Hector, guardian of her wall, 245 Or ftain this lance, or fee Achilles fall.

He said, and drove with fury on the foe. Then to the Godhead of the filver bow The yellow flood began: O fon of Jove! Was not the mandate of the fire above

250

Full and exprefs? that Phoebus fhould employ
His facred arrows in defence of Troy,
And make her conquer, till Hyperion's fall
In awful darknefs hide the face of all?

He fpoke in vain-the chief without dismay255
Ploughs through the boiling furge his defperate
Then, rifing in his rage above the fhores, [way.
From all his deep the bellowing river roars,
Huge heaps of flain difgorges on the coaft,
And round the banks the ghaftly dead are toft. 260
While all before, the billows rang'd on high
(A watery bulwark) fkreen the bands who fly.
Now bursting on his head with thundering found,
The falling deluge whelms the hero round:
His loaded fhield bends to the rushing tide;
His feet, upborne, fearce the ftrong flood divide,

265

Yet dauntless ftill the adverse flood he braves,
And fill indignant bounds above the waves.
Tir'd by the tides, his knees relax with toil;
Wafh'd from beneath him flides the flimy foil: 310
When thus (his eyes on Heaven's expanfion
thrown)

315

320

Forth burfts the hero with an angry groan:
Is there no God, Achilles to befriend,
No Power t' avert his miferable end?
Prevent, oh Jove! this ignominious date,
And make my future life the sport of Fate.
Of all Heaven's oracles believ'd in vain,
But most of Thetis, muft her fon complain;
By Phoebus' darts fhe prophefied my fall,
In glorious arms before the Trojan wall.
Oh! had I died in fields of battle warm,
Stretch'd like a hero, by a hero's arm!
Might Hedor's fpear this dauntless bofom rend,
And my fwift foul o'ertake my flaughter'd friend!
Ah, no! Achilles meets a fhameful fate,
Oh! how unworthy of the brave and great!
Like tome vile fwain, whom on a rainy day,
Croffing a ford, the tortent fweeps away,
An unregarded carcafe, to the fea.

325

Neptune and Pallas hafte to his relief, And thus in human form addref. the chief.

339